Time And The City

Today it truly feels like spring time in Pittsburgh. The clouds blew away and I found myself sitting on the steps of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in the middle of the campus of the University of Pittsburgh enjoying the warmth of the sun and the gentle spring time breeze as I scribbled in my notebook and watched cars and people go by some of the people obviously college students in caps and gowns.

Next week when I’m back on my beat in Little Italy things will be more hectic; but today is a good time for lazy observations.

I returned my biography of Jack Kerouac to the library. Now I’m reading his novel On The Road for the second time, but this time I’m enjoying it more. And yes I can see why On The Road has had the cultural impact that it has had and why it is hailed as the iconic novel of the Beat Generation. The book broke a lot of literary conventions, something that I hope the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction is doing. Although, I don’t expect my humble online magazine to have any impact on the culture. I do hope it will eventually be considered a serious magazine of art and entertainment.

Keep reading and keep writing that erotic flash fiction.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team is below 500 causing consternation on the radio sports show that I listen to. The hosts of the show and the callers who call in are full of suggestions for how to get the team winning again. And they take themselves seriously even though none of them have ever managed a major league baseball team. But everybody has an opinion and that’s what makes for interesting radio.

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This is the Old Soldier reporting for the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction, a magazine of local interest, erotica and sex as art and entertainment.